NRJ #1: Exploration

One o f the themes that stood out to me in Heart of Darkness was exploration. I believe that the author is trying to say that exploration has many meanings and levels. Marlow for example is characterized by exploration because of his curiosity for Africa and good versus evil (pertaining to the human psyche). This theme has two different avenues for exploration, but they are both classified under exploration. Marlow’s passion for exploration is realized when the author uses imagery and Marlow states, “Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you-smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering ‘come and find out.’” (1.13) The author also uses imagery when making a point about good versus evil. “But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.” (1.5) The author is trying to say that metaphorically, we would not recognize light (goodness) without darkness (evil). Clearly there are different meanings of exploration. One can explore land and seas like Marlow did or one can explore the nature of good and evil. Weather one is exploring the good or bad parts of a country/civilization or the good and evil natures of mankind, we could not tell the difference unless we had both.

DRJ #4: Hamlet, Act 4

One particular scene that stood out to me in this act is the way that Gertrude informs Laertes of Ophelia's death. Although she drowned tragically (accident or suicide, I'm not sure), Gertrude describes her death in an unusually beautiful way. I have never heard of someone describing someones death the way she did. Very weird! Gertrude said, "There is a willow grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; There with fantastic garlands did she come of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; when down her weedy trophies and herself fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; and, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up: which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; as one incapable of her own distress, or like a creature native and indued unto that element: but long it could not be till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.” (4.7.164-180)
Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. Although he is a foil to Hamlet, he is a lot like Hamlet in that his father was also murdered but he handles himself in a different way. He has the mentality of taking action first and to ask questions later, which is the polar opposite of Hamlet. Hamlet mulls over what to do about avenging his father’s death and over analyzes everything.
One of the themes in this act is death. Ophelia dies while Claudius and Laertes devise a plan to kill Hamlet. Laertes states, “I will do't! And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mountebank, so mortal that but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death this is but scratch'd withal. I'll touch my point with this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, it may be death.” (4.7.152-161)

DRJ #3: Hamlet, Act III

Boy there is a lot of fireworks in this act. Hamlet plans exactly how he wants the play to be presented in order to prove that Cladius is guilty of accusing his father and succeeds. This remings me of a co-worker I used to work with that was obsessed with trying to get another co-worker fired by trying to prove that she was stealing from the company. She was crazy and frankly had no life.
Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and the wife of King Cladius. In a way she is a antagonist because she causes the main character conflict, but as his mother I don't think she intends to hurt her son. I think she has made some irrational decisions, like marrying her deceased husbands brother, and she seems to be pretty selfish.
One of the themes in Act three is madness. Gertrude expresses madness when she says, "Alas, how is't with you, that you do bend your eye on vacancy and with the incorporal air do hold discourse? Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;and, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, your bedded hair, like life in excrements, starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?" (Act III, Scene IV)

DRJ #2: Hamlet, Act 2

Hamlet appears to be sick and mentally unstable because of his love for Ophelia. This reminds of me of a friend that I used to know that broke up with her boyfriend and he acted very similar to this. He couldn’t function, was very depressed and felt very lost and empty without her.
Claudius is the antagonist in this story and in a way I think that he causes the conflict intentionally. Claudius is very determined to keep his authority and I believe that even though he may have strong feelings for Gertrude, she was an easy way to get to the throne. How convenient. He definitely looks out for himself and disregards the feelings of others. His attitude and actions bring out Hamlets desire for revenge and shows us the “evil” side of him.
One of the themes in act two is lies and deception. When Polonius tells his servants to spread rumors about his son Laertes he says, “Marry, sir, here's my drift; And I believe, it is a fetch of wit. You laying these slight sullies on my son, as 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, mark you,your party in converse, him you would sound,having ever seen in the prenominate crimes the youth you breathe of guilty, be assured he closes with you in this consequence; ‘Good sir,’ or so, or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman,’ according to the phrase or the addition Of man and country.” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines

DRJ #1: Hamlet, Act I

During the first act Hamlet experiences uneasy feelings when his mother moves on very quickly after her husband’s death and dates Hamlet’s uncle. This situation reminded me of my grandpa when my grandma passed away. They got married when they were 18 and then a few years ago she passed away from Luekemia. Shortly after her death, her sister started to hang around my grandpa a lot and it seemed that whenever I saw my grandpa, I saw her. I knew she had romantic feelings for him, but in my opinion it was too soon and inappropriate. I understand Hamlet’s feelings in that regard and I caught myself judging the entire situation with my own family. Finally, I decided to look past it and to only want what would make my grandpa happy. It will be interesting to see how Hamlet deals with the situation.

Hamlet is the main character and seems to be the type of person that is well respected, caring (although puts his feelings first) and curious. His fatal flaw would be his passive-aggressive attitudes towards his mother and uncle. He obeys them and acts cooperatively and respectable in front of them, but in reality he has bitter feelings about his mother moving on so quickly after his father’s death. This anger and resentment usually builds up to the point where someone acts out irrationally or does something that they regret. So far from what I have read in Act I, Hamlet does fit Aristotle’s concept of a classical tragic hero because I could see how his attitude could lead to his own downfall. The fact that he is not honest and truthful with his parents is a good indication that the events to come may be less than ideal.

One of the theme’s that stood out to me in Act I is Hamlet’s view of a woman’s love and loyalty. In Act I Hamlet states, “Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,” which suggests that he questions the authenticity of a woman’s love. I believe that he struggles with this issue because his mother married his uncle soon after her husband’s sudden death.

Chopin support for thesis

Thesis #2: By contrasting images of life with those of death throughout “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin highlights the struggle of a person imprisoned by societal pressures and thereby kept from fully being alive.

In the thirteenth paragraph the narrator shows the reader how Mrs. Mallard briefly struggles with the reality of her husband’s death and how his death has freed her from imprisonment. “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked saved with love upon here, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and speared her arms out to them in welcome.” Another statement the narrator makes about Mrs. Mallard’s freedom and how her own will was controlled when her husband was alive is in paragraph fourteen. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years, she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illuminations.”



Thesis #3: Through the use of structure in her intentionally short story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin ingeniously exposes the larger and more complex problem of oppression that can still be felt in our society today.

It is evident that even in today’s modern society, the complex issues of oppression still remains. Oppression is more commonly known today as abuse. This is such a major issue that there are organizations like W.E.A.V.E that help women escape from such situations and there are new cases reported everyday of domestic violence. This shows that issues like this between couples has not changed since Mrs. Mallard’s time, but may have gotten worse. The narrator portrays Mrs. Mallard’s oppression and her freedom from it in paragraph nineteen. “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that her life might be long.”

Comments--Your support for Thesis #2 is pretty solid, but be sure you link the examples more directly to the purpose noted in the thesis. Your support for Thesis #3 does not relate to the literary element of structure. Also, to tie it in to issues in modern times, you would need to focus on what in the text resonates with today's issues and not the other way around. Otherwise, nice job culling the text for evidence--just be very certain to maintain a focus on the elements you mention in your thesis and more directly link your evidence to the meaning you interpret and state in the thesis.

SSRJ #4:Minot

The story Lust, by Susan Minot, made me feel a little put off and bored at first. I felt put off because of the narrator’s promiscuous lifestyle and her lack of self respect. I was also bored of the story because I simply wasn’t interested in her “love” life, or lack thereof. I didn’t really care to know who she had been with, what they did together or what they looked like. Then towards the end when the narrator discusses how the experiences make her feel, I felt relieved. Relieved to know that she can be honest with herself and hopefully make better decisions in the future.
The only element that stood out particularly interesting to me was when the narrator finally comes to grips with the reality and consequences of sleeping around before she is married. “After sex, you curl up like a shrimp, something deep inside you ruined, slammed in a place that sickens at slamming, and slowly you fill up with an overwhelming sadness, an elusive gaping worry. You don’t try to explain it, filled with the knowledge that it’s nothing after all, everything filling up finally and absolutely with death. After the briskness of loving, loving stops. And you roll over with death stretched out alongside you like a feather boa, or a snake, light as air, and you…you don’t even ask for anything or try to say something to him because it’s obviously your own damn fault. You haven’t been able to-to what? To open your heart. You open your legs but can’t or don’t dare anymore, to open your heart.” This paragraph makes the point that teenage “love” is simply lust. There is no lasting love or a future together.
The situation in my life that this story made me think of is when I was in high school. A few of the classmates I knew very well always slept with their boyfriends and then they would eventually break up. Of course they were heartbroken and regretted what they did. A lot of them were hurt and thought that they would be together forever. I tried my best to listen and empathize.
The literary element that I chose and was used by the author to support and build meaning to their work is tone. Reading the first few paragraphs I clearly noticed that the tone of the story was few monotonous. The way the narrator describes each “lover,” one right after other, shows that the narrator is less enthused. “Roger was fast. In his illegal car, we drove to the reservoir, the radio blaring, talking fast, fast, fast. He was always going for my zipper. He got kicked out sophomore year. By the time the band got around to playing ‘Wild Horses,’ I had tasted Bruce’s tongue. We were clicking in the shadows on the other side of the amplifier, out of Mrs. Donovan’s line of vision. It tasted like salt, with my neck bent back, because we had been dancing so hard before.” The tone is also set at the end when the narrator discusses how she is lured into these “relationships,” which sets the tone of helplessness. “You stare into their eyes. They flash like all the stars are out. They look at you seriously, their eyes at a low burn and their hands no matter what starting off shy and with such a gentle touch that the only thing you can do is take that tenderness and let yourself be swept away. When, with one attentive finger they tuck the hair behind your ear, you-You do everything they want.”
Should the reader feel sympathy for the narrator? Do you think the theme of the story would appeal to most readers?

SSRJ #3: Walker

“I am the grass,” by Daly Walker, caused me to have mixed feelings as I read through the story. In the beginning I felt disturbed by the acts that the main character committed, but also felt sorry that he was harboring so much pain and shame. As the story progressed, I felt that it was nice that he was trying to do something in return for the people of Vietnam (where he had done the unspeakable things) by performing surgery on children with cleft palates. At the end, I wished the operation would have worked for Dinh. He seemed like a man that had good intentions and could have done more things if he had a usable thumb.
The element that stood out as particularly interesting to me was the main character’s ability to hide the events that had happened during the war. Although I see both sides of why he would or would not tell his family, the fact of the matter is that if those experiences affect his everyday civilian life, he needs to talk to someone. His family should be the first people that should not judge or reject him. It is interesting to read that he feels that if he tells them, they would no longer see him as a good man. “Because I love my wife and daughter, and because I want them to believe I am a good man, I have never talked to them about my year as a grunt with the 25th infantry in Vietnam.”
The situation in my life that this story made me think about is when my dad would only give me little details about his experiences in Vietnam. I know that he wasn’t on the front lines, but still to this day, I don’t know much about what he did or what he experienced. I can imagine that it would be a traumatic experience, especially because he was so young and didn’t have a good childhood to begin with. I made me wonder if a lot of veterans harbor a lot of shame or do not tell of certain events that took place on enemy soil.
The literary element that I chose and was used by the author to support and build meaning to their work is theme. I believe that the author used theme in order to convey that the meaning of the story is that life is what you make of it. If you have a positive outlook, you don’t let the bumps in the road make you stumble and if things don’t go according to plan then there will be another opportunity waiting. However, you decide to have a negative outlook, you will allow mistakes to never be forgiven (in fact, they will define who you are for the rest of your life) and there are no second chances. The narrator sums it best by saying, “Dinh believes that our lives move in circles, repeating themselves endlessly like the four seasons, like the cycle of his country’s rice crop. Planting. Weeding and waiting. Harvesting. Fallowness. Planting again. I things don’t work out, so what? Another chance will come around, the way winter always gives in to spring. But I believe that my life is somehow outside these circles, that I am on a straight march toward something final, and on that journey to the end of existence, the journey itself is all there is. When I fail along the way, when something I need eludes me because of a mistake I have made, the mistake itself becomes a defeat, and I am left with only loss, with emptiness, uncertainty, and regret.” The narrator also demonstrates how unfortunate events would define someone for the rest of their life by saying, “All these things fester in me like the tiny fragment of shrapnel embedded in my skull, haunt me like the corpse of the slim dark man I killed. I cannot talk about these things that I wish I could forget but know that I never will.”
Do you feel that the main character is doing cleft palate surgeries in Vietnam because he feels guilty? In doing the surgeries, does this make his wrongs, right? Does it make him a better man?

SSRJ #2: Oates

The story of the two girls sparked my curiosity and I was in suspense in regard to what was going to happen when they saw Marilyn Monroe. I was caught off guard that the two girls felt that there was “unspoken young love” between them. I was also surprised that Marilyn Monroe walked into the Strand Bookstore and I thought it was interesting that the author used her in the story.
The element that stood out as particularly interesting to me is the author’s use of detail between the two girls while they were watching and following Marilyn Monroe. “We couldn’t resist, we had to follow! Cautious not to whisper together like excited schoolgirls, still less to giggle wildly as we were tempted; you nudged me in the ribs to sober me, gave me a glare signaling Don’t be rude, don’t ruin this for all of us. I conceded: I was the more pushy of the two of us, a tall gawky Rima the Bird Girl with springy carroty-red hair like an exotic bird’s crest, while you were petite and dark haired and attractive with long-lashed Semitic sloe eyes, you the wily gymnast and I the aggressive basketball player, you the ‘experimental’ poet and I drawn to ‘forms,’ our contrary talents, bred in our bones. Which of us would marry, have babies, disappear into ‘real’ life, and which of us would persevere into her thirties before starting to be published and becoming, in time, a ‘real’ poet-could anyone have predicted, this snowy March evening in 1956?” This passage gives insight to the reader about the feelings the girls have for each other, their thoughts about the future and their physical descriptions as well. What a wealth of information from a simple nudge in the ribs.
The only situation in my life that this story made me think about was when I was a teenager. I was taking karate lessons at the time and Chuck Norris came to the karate school. My friends and I were all there, trying to play it cool even though we were excited to meet him. By the time it was our turn to shake hands and meet him we could hardly contain ourselves. We calmly shook hands and once we left we felt star struck and couldn’t believe we just met Chuck Norris.
I believe that what the author is trying to say in this story is that money does not buy happiness or lasting memories. Love and unforgettable moments are not defined by fancy, costly possessions, a glamorous lifestyle and it can not be purchased. This story takes place in a humble bookstore, not Hollywood or New York, but a simple bookstore that means a lot to two girls. “No bookstore of merely ‘new’ books with elegant show window displays drew us like the drafty Strand, bins of books untidy and thumbed through as merchants’ sidewalk bins on Fourteenth Street, NEW THIS WEEK, BEST BARGAINS, WORLD CLASSICS, ART BOOKS 50% OFF, REVIEWERS’ COPIES, HIGHTEST PREICE $1.98, REMAINDERS $.25-$1.00. Hardcover/paperbacks. Spotless/battered. Beautiful books/cheaply printed pulp paper. And a the rear and sides in that vast echoing space massive shelves of books books books rising to a ceiling of hammered tin fifteen feet above! Stacked shelves so high they required ladders to negotiate and a monkey nimbleness (like yours) to climb.” The author also portrays this idea using Marilyn Monroe in the story. She was a symbol for glamour, fame, lavishness and wealth. However, in the story she is described as a woman that was “…an individual wholly absorbed in selecting, leafing through, pausing to read books.” She was a real person. She enjoyed books. Books that didn’t cost a lot in a bookstore that was small and intimate. The priceless memory is told at the very end of the story. “Oh. Oh God. Marilyn Monroe. She gave us a book. Was any of it real? It was real: we had Selected Poems of Marianne Moore to prove it. That snowy early evening in March at Strand Used Books. That magical evening of Marilyn Monroe, when I kissed you for the first time.”
Do you think our society puts too much emphasis on money and glam? Do your fondest memories have anything to do with cost, social status or fame?

SSRJ#1: Chopin

When I started reading the short story by Chopin, I felt sorry for her and could not imagine going through the same situation. How would I even begin to cope with a loss as great as hers? As I read on, the story took on an unexpected twist. I was shocked that she was happy, almost relieved that her husband had died. At first I felt that her feelings and attitude were wrong, shocking and unlikely. Had any other widow secretly felt the same way? Surely this attitude would not be accepted in today's society. Towards the end I was a little happy for her. Maybe her thoughts and feelings were not so evil after all. Perhaps she was in a domestic situation that she felt she could not escape and now she was free. If that was truly the case, I understood why she felt the way she did.
The element of the story that was particularly interesting to me was how the author took the reader through each stage of emotion that Mrs. Mallard went through. We feel her initial despair, the "dull stare in her eyes," to becoming joyful and feeling a sense of freedom.
After reading this story I thought my aunt who had lost her husband in an accident. I reflected on how his death changed her life and I realized how vital family support is.

I believe Chopin used symbolism to convey her message through this short story. As Mrs. Mallard is looking out the window after hearing the news about her husband's death, Chopin vividly describes what she sees. Chopin is using this symbolism to show that Mrs. Mallard is feeling both fresh and renewed by saying that, "she could see in the open square above her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air." On the other hand she knows she is expected to feel sad and maybe a small part of her does feel despair and shock. "In the street below a young peddler was crying his wares." But after a short time of reflection, she knows that she is free and she is finally allowing herself to feel what it is like to be free, perhaps like a bird is free. "The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." The symbolism that was going on outside of her window let us in on what was really going on in her heart.
Was it wrong for Mrs. Mallard to feel free after her husband's death? Is there a right way and a wrong way to feel when such a tragedy takes place? Is it more common than we think for widows to feel relieved or free?

Hello everyone!

Hi everyone, my name is Erika. I am taking English 1B online for general education requirements and because I have succeeded with online courses in the past and they seem to fit into my schedule better than traditional courses that meet on campus. My major is Psychology and I plant to transfer to Sac State in a year. As far as my favorite author, I hope to have one by the end of the semester.